What Channel Challenges are Keeping You Up at Night?

Diane Krakora

Amazon Consulting recently gathered 30 people in our semi-annual channel executive round table.  We met to discuss channel trends, find best practices for common challenges and network with industry peers.  Here are some highlights of the discussion.

Coping With Economic Realities
The first issue on everyone’s mind was the economic downturn and possible recession, so we opened with that topic.  Most of the vendors felt  that effectively leveraging partners is even more important as the economy softened.  Most of the attendees were looking to boost revenues and profitability by expanding channels, not contracting them. The smaller vendors felt pressure to quickly open up the channels and engage faster to hit revenue goals.  They were all feeling the pressure to manage their fixed costs (i.e. headcount) and “produce more with less” – which seems to be the current battle cry for effectively leveraging partners. The larger vendors were also experiencing increasing conflict in the channel as more partners pursue fewer deals, and large customers start requiring the vendors to also have “skin in the game.”